Thursday, June 28, 2012

Guided Math Chapter 5

How do I think I
can adapt Guided Math into my kindergarten classroom? That is what I have been pondering for two
nights.

Let’s start with
what I already know and have in place that will help me. I already have established Guided Reading in
my classroom so I already have a teacher space set up.

My math supplies
are already easily assessable and organized for my students to get to them and
put them away on their own. I have a lot
of manipulatives to work with.

I already have a
great mind set and truly believe that small group instruction is best for my
students. I want to spend time working
with all my students and I want to meet my little ones at their instructional
levels during small groups. I agree with
Lammons that small groups encourage young children to focus their attention and
participate more thereby improving student behavior.

So how do I see
this working in my classroom with 25 students?

I like to work
with four flexible groups. Each group
will depend on the concept being taught and teacher observations. I would like to see all four groups as much as
possible.

1.Teacher
Group-Introduce New Concepts

2.. Teacher Aid Station-Review Concepts

3.Independent
Work. – Students work on their own work.

4.. Math Stations/ I Pad

I envision my
stations about 15 to 20 minutes. If we
do not finish, then we pick up there tomorrow.
So that way it will allow me to double check on all the groups.

My math groups
will be different from my reading groups so they will have their own names,
maybe something to do with math vocabulary. How my
groups develop from there will depend on my little ones.

I would like my
students who are working on math stations to be as independent as possible this
was a problem for me last year. My
students always seemed so needy, they needed constant reassurance and
feedback.

Last year I
thought I organized, set up, explained, demonstrated, modeled the stations,
however many of my students needed constant help. I made
“I Can” Charts but they just ignored them.

So this new
school year I want to make several changes to my math groups:

1.I want to spend
more time teaching about procedures. I
read some neat ideas on the Daily 5 book studies that I would like to add to my
classroom using music as a clue. Does anyone know good upbeat songs to use for clean up and changing centers?

2.Right Now I have
my math stations organized in these buckets.
The buckets are always disorganized and cause lots of confusion.

I want to switch
to a simpler, cleaner, looking system. I saved this idea from Pinterest

7 comments:

I teach 2 sessions of kindergarten and do not have a classroom aid. I was thinking about doing guided math... Do you think this book will help? I have the Debbie Diller book... I'm willing to try anything once, but with common core, I don't want to miss anything...

The book has not yet offered practical ideas of how to do the groups. It has just compared it to guided reading. I struggled with doing Debbie Diller's stations because my little ones had too many things to focus on. I am hoping just four stations will be better however I will have an aide, without an aide you may want to rethink. The book is very theory based and gives you a lot to think about. You have to connect the dots of how you want it to work in your classroom. However teaching in small groups is always best if you can in kindergarten.

You have some really good questions. I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of answers. What has worked best for me to not have interruptions during small group is to make sure that the activities I have set up for math workshop are ones with which my kiddos can be independent. They have to be activities that are review or practice. Another thing to keep in mind (which I find I also have to remind myself of), is that small groups & workshop don't necessarily happen every day. that knowledge helps me think about managing small groups and workshop in a different way.

Something I do is have my students write me a note about whatever problem they are having while I am in a meeting... but seeing as you have Kinders, I'm not too sure that would work! Have you seen the ask me hats on pinterest? One student each day wears the hat, and if anyone has a problem, they ask that student. Could you put one in charge? I also have my students with math partners, so they can always ask them for help. I wish I had some more ideas! I'd love to hear it when you decide on something though! :)

I teach 2nd grade, so I'm not sure if this will help - but at each of my math tubs, there are two activities that practice the same skill. That way, if they get stuck, or "finished" there is something else for them. Sara

Hello, I have done guided math for just one year in Kindergarten and also changed my math tubs to math stations using Debbie's book as a guide. Having permanent partners works. If a new math station was challenging then I practiced with groups of four during our exploration time. Then those four could teacher four more and the new station quickly became familiar. Having student experts in the classroom and a culture where the teacher is not the only expert really cuts down on interuptions. It worked well in my room last year and I encourage you to try it. My kinders had access to sticky notes so that if they really needed to speak with me they put then on my teaching easel. I was consistent in getting back to them. Hope this helps. I have a blog about math stations at my site if you think it might be helpful.

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Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I love sharing my ideas with others and I enjoy seeing the creative ideas of others as well. I am mother of four wonderful grown children. I have one amazing grandchild. I am a teacher and I love to organize, create, bike and read.

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The intention of TVBK is to share what is happening in my kindergarten classroom. The ideas I am sharing on TVBK I have collected over the last 20 years of teaching from books, workshops, websites blogs and now pinterest. I am getting better at remembering and siting my sources now that I have a blog but things that I have been using for years and years I may not have the original source. I am sorry if I offend anyone. That is not the intention of my blog.

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